Sweet Dreams and Beautiful Realities
by xxcityofdreamsxx
Summary: Ok i'm not great at summaries but basically the story is set almost two years after CoG. Clary has been having sweet dreams about herself and Jace that she just can't seem to stop thinking about. But whats better; dreams or reality?
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

_The sun was setting as Clarissa Fray made her way down onto the sand. The view took her breath away as she looked up towards the sky, which was a deep, tranquil blue stained with pink and orange. It made her feel warm and tingly despite the cool breeze which swirled around her, making her white dress swish around beneath her and causing her loose red curls to dance around her face. _

_She felt so intoxicated by the beauty of her surroundings and the anticipation of what was to come that she almost jumped when she felt a warm hand on her shoulder. She looked up and was immediately met by Luke's kind, loving eyes. He gave her a quick smile and a slight tilt of the head as if to ask if she was ready, which she returned with her own smile, a smile so bright it could have illuminated the entire beach, although that was hardly necessary as Isabelle had already taken care of the lighting and Clary had to admit, she'd done a pretty fine job. _

_Shimmering lights and candles covered the area where they stood as well as decorating the various bouquets of flowers Isabelle had insisted on placing at the end of each row of seating. A set of twinkling gold and silver fairy lights marked their way down the aisle, ending at the altar which was adorned with rose petals and clusters of tea lights in multi-coloured jars._

_Clary looked up to the end of the aisle and saw Jace standing there with Alec, his best man, standing behind him, both dressed in black suits. He smiled at Clary and she observed that it was almost as if he himself was glowing. However, it wasn't the candles or the sparkly lights that made his whole face light up this way; it was the pure joy and love in his eyes that illuminated his features, making Clary's heart skip a beat. _

_All of sudden, Clary felt the urge to be close to him, to hold his hands and look into his eyes and say the words that would make him her's forever. As the music began to play and she and Luke began their descent down the aisle, Clary desperately started to wish that the path towards the altar could be just a bit shorter. Finally after what seemed an eternity and a half they reached the end of the aisle. Letting go of Luke's arm, Clary took Jace's hands in her own and waited for the question that would change her life forever; _

"_Clarissa Fray, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?" She opened her mouth to reply and..._

The door opened with a loud bang to reveal Jace Wayland standing in his pyjama trousers, crossing his arms impatiently over his chest. Clary turned over in her bed and moaned into her pillow,

"For God's sake Jace, don't you ever knock?" She demanded, sitting up to face him.

" Yes, actually I think you'll find I knocked several times but eventually I decided it would be easier to let myself in before one of us died of old age".

Clary let out a sigh of exasperation, this was typical Jace. It wasn't enough for him to just give a simple answer; it had to come with an extra side of sarcasm. Still, it was one of the things she loved about him, one of the many things...

"I hope I didn't interrupt anything" continued Jace as sarcastic (and gorgeous) as ever, before adding "You weren't dreaming about me, were you?"

Even though she knew Jace was joking, Clary could feel a deep blush creeping up her face; she grabbed her pillow and hugged it to her face in an attempt to hide the redness she knew was spreading over her cheeks. Looking up, Clary caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror that hung on her wall. _Eurgh_, she wished she didn't have to have that thing right in front of her, especially first thing in the morning when she wasn't exactly looking her best, but it had been a gift from Isabelle and she thought it would be rude not to use it.

In typical Isabelle style, the mirror was encrusted with jewels and sequins around the edge, it was without a doubt the sparkliest thing she owned. The gem stones glistened in the sunlight, which was streaming in through the window _they sort of reminded her of all the twinkling lights from her dream..._Oh God, she was blushing again, that just made her reflection look even worse, it was so bad she didn't know where to begin. Her hair hung in a mop of messy, matted tangles that stuck up at odd angles, she had dark circles under her eyes and _oh great a pimple, just what I need right now, _she thought to herself.

She tried to remind herself that _most_ girls don't exactly look stunning after collapsing into bed in the early hours of the morning after chasing giant, mutinous demons through the sewers (unless they happened to be Isabelle Lightwood), before realising that in fact, _most_ girls don't make a habit of chasing giant, mutinous demons through the sewers. _Well considering everything that happened last night combined with the four hours sleep I managed to get, I guess I don't look too bad, _she figured, until she looked at Jace.

He was his usual impossibly handsome self as always. In fact, leaning across her doorway he looked almost God –like, a comparison she had made many times before but still it surprised her each time. Honestly, living with so many beautiful people was enough to make her sick sometimes and if she wasn't so completely in love with Jace, she would probably hate him for it, or least resent him a little bit. _But thinking about the way he had looked at her in that dream made her stomach fill with butterflies, he had looked at her as if she was his whole world, the single most important thing in his life..._

Clary let her thoughts drift away until she was interrupted by the sound of Jace clearing his throat, "Er...I don't know if you've realised but you've been staring into that mirror for nearly five minutes" he informed her "and you tell me I'm vain"

"You _are _vain" retorted Clary

"Maybe so but at least I don't go for long periods of time checking out my reflection in the mirror first thing in the morning"

"Well excuse me but we can't all just roll out of bed at some horrendous hour looking like an _Abercrombie & Fitch _model" said Clary, glaring at her boyfriend.

Jace nodded and sighed theatrically "It's true, I do have amazing bone structure, not to mention this _immaculate_ body" he said gesturing towards himself, Clary rolled her eyes. "But you shouldn't feel bad, if anything you should be happy 'cos you get to look at this everyday" he continued, striking a pose that would have been worthy of the red carpet and earning another glare from Clary.

"Er Jace, did you actually come in here for a reason or just to wake me up and flaunt your perfection in front of me?"

Jace smiled "Actually there _was_ a reason I came in here, I need you to get ready because I'm taking you out"

"Out? Now? Where?" Clary panicked, if she was going out she seriously needed to do something with that hair, at least yank a brush through it or something. _If only I could get it to look the way it looked in that dream, all loose and pretty_ she thought before mentally telling herself to shut up as she was pretty sure if this went on much longer, her face would start to match her hair.

" Oh, I'm not going to spoil the surprise" Jace grinned wickedly, " Just get ready and meet me at the front door of the Institute in an hour" he turned to leave before turning back and planting a quick kiss on Clary's lips,

"Oh, by the way, happy anniversary"


	2. Chapter 2

Hey, so this originally was going to be a one-shot but as I got into it I decided to make it a bit longer, not sure exactly how long it will be, depends on where the story goes and how much people like it. Please rate and review, any comets and suggestions are welcome!

CHAPTER 2

Clary was completely gobsmacked. Anniversary? It wasn't their anniversary surely. Clary scratched her head desperately trying to think about dates. She and Jace had officially started dating 638 days ago (but hey, who was counting?)

She hated the word 'dating'. It felt wrong to say that she and Jace were _dating_ given their history. Clary had been hopelessly in love with Jace ever since the first time he had kissed her on her 16th birthday, even though there were (plenty of) times when she hadn't always liked him. Being told by valentine that they were _supposedly_ brother and sister had felt like a cruel twist of fate keeping them apart, like a 'cosmic joke' Jace had once said. That was certainly the best way Clary could think of describing it. All that time they had spent thinking they were related had felt like a punishment and the fact that they couldn't be together just made her realise how badly she wanted them to. Although she knew Jace was her soulmate, she had never quite known the extent of his feelings for her until that night in Idris when he had almost begged her to sleep beside him. His words still made her feel giddy "_I love you and I will love you until I die and if there's a life after that, I'll love you then."_

So it was hardly surprising that she didn't like the word 'dating'. It just felt so ... uncertain, unsure, like when two people were trying to work out how they really felt about each other and if there was one thing Clary was sure about in her crazy and often frightening world, it was her feelings for Jace. She knew, without a shadow of a doubt that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. True, they had been on dates but 'dating' felt like a massive understatement, insufficient to describe the enormity of her feelings for him _and his feelings for me_ she added with a smile.

But anyway, back to the main point. 638 days. That was a year and about... 9 months(ish), Clary observed, doing the maths in her head. They had already shared their first anniversary exactly one year after their kiss on the steps of the hall of accords, after it had become clear that they were supposed to be together after all. When it became real for the first time...

But their second anniversary was 3 months away. What was Jace talking about?

He'd said he was taking her out but refused to tell her where. What was she supposed to wear? Was this a casual date or did she need to get dressed up?

She thought of her dress from the dream _white and simple but beautiful and perfect at the same time, and her hair in those loose ringlets that framed her face..._

_Oh for God's sake here we go again with the dream, honestly woman just concentrate on one thing at a time _she thought to herself. It was times like this she just wanted to give herself a slap and tell herself to get over it. It was just a dream, it wasn't real.

Pushing it to the back of her mind, where she hoped (but doubted) it would stay, Clary decided she needed serious help for this date. She sighed and made her way down the hall, she wouldn't normally do this but desperate times...

Taking in a deep breath, Clary swallowed her pride and knocked on the door in front of her. 30 seconds later the door opened with a click to reveal Isabelle standing there in a baby pink silk nightie, decorated with black lace. Her dark hair was swept up into a low bun at the side of her head with several wavy tendrils hanging out. _It almost reminded her of..._ No! _This is not happening now_ she told herself.

Isabelle yawned, a small delicate yawn and looked Clary up and down. "Can I help you?" She asked with half a smile. Clary couldn't help but envy how gorgeous she looked and for a second she was tempted to lean forward and mess up her hair or pour water her or something just to stop her from looking so darn perfect. But she quickly put that thought out of her mind, after all she _did _need her help.

Clary smiled sweetly. " Actually, I was hoping you could. I have a date with Jace in an hour and I kinda wanna look half decent."

Isabelle looked over her again, taking in her tired, puffy eyes and straw-like tangle of hair before nodding slowly. "Well, you've come to the right place."

With a quick movement she grabbed Clary's arm and pulled her into her bedroom, slamming the door shut behind them.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for the review so far! Please review the story so far and give me any ideas/suggestions to help me decide which direction to go in as it's still pretty much undecided

CHAPTER 3

Clary wouldn't normally bother Isabelle for things like this. She remembered the last time Isabelle had done her hair and make-up, for the dead man's party at Magnus' apartment. Well, it had worked then, so why not? Actually, it was quite nice in a way, that she was doing it again. Kind of ... familiar, like a sister almost. That was what Clary loved about living at the Institute, it was like a big family. Of course, she still had her mum and Luke but since they'd got married a couple of months ago, she felt she should give them some privacy, so she'd moved here. She still called them every day but it was kind of cool living with her boyfriend, although that part had taken quite a lot of convincing.

"So, what are you going to wear for this date?" Isabelle asked as she attempted to tug Clary's tangled locks into submission.

"I have no idea" was Clary's reply. "The thing is I don't know where he's taking me, although I was hoping he might have told you and then you could help me out".

Isabelle laughed, a long, feminine giggle, "Clary, the chances of Jace telling me where he's taking you out on a date are pretty slim. In fact, I've probably got as much chance of finding out where you're going on your date as I have of Simon _ever_ asking me out on a date of my own", Isabelle smiled but Clary could see the pain in her eyes. She squeezed her arm sympathetically.

"I'm sure Simon will come around eventually, he probably just doesn't realise you feel the same way".

"What, after I practically threw myself at him? I know he's not the sharpest tool in the box but he'd have to be pretty dense not to notice me pretty much telling him how I feel, Clary. I guess he's the one who doesn't feel the same".

Clary looked up at Isabelle "You really like him don't you?" Isabelle shot Clary a _you-don't-say _sort of look.

"Well duh? And the worst thing is, I never get like this over guys. Usually, they're the ones chasing me around like love-sick puppies and with _Simon _of all people, I mean, when we first met he used to follow me around with his tongue hanging out and _now _I just feel..."

Clary tuned out at this point. She knew what Isabelle was saying and it was true. When Simon had first come to the institute, it was obvious he liked Isabelle. A lot. _Of course he would, she's gorgeous_. But she had never liked the idea of them actually being together because, well...Isabelle had never really seemed like the long-term-relationship kind of girl and she didn't want her using Simon and them tossing him aside like she'd heard Isabelle had a habit of doing. But since Isabelle's little brother had been killed, the tables had turned _majorly. _It was obvious Isabelle was falling for Simon in a big way although she could never be sure how Simon felt about her. Clary almost felt sorry for her.

"Anyway, enough about my love life, or _lack of one_" Isabelle said, moving on to do Clary's make-up "Let's focus on you're hot date."

"Which I still have no idea how to dress for" sighed Clary "Do I go smart or casual?"

"How about smart-casual, a mixture between the two? Casual, yet still dressy?"

Clary shrugged "Worth a try, I guess but how do I dress smart-casual?"

Isabelle shot her another look "My God, call yourself a girl? All girls know how to do smart-casual. I suppose next you'll be telling me you don't know how to accessorize your outfits to show off your best features".

Clary shrugged and shook her head apologetically. Isabelle leaned back in her chair as if someone had hit her.

"I don't believe this, looks like I'll be doing wardrobe advice as well as hair and make-up as well then. I _swear_ I should have a career in this then I'd get paid for my hard work and effort. Although, no offence, but I'm not really surprised about your lack of fashion sense, I mean most of your clothes have been pretty...well, dull. Don't get me wrong, I know not everyone finds clothes and stuff that interesting but it never hurts to put a little effort into your appearance. Not that there's anything wrong with the way you look but God knows, if you'd put a little more thought into this earlier, you wouldn't be having this trouble know..."

Clary drifted off again. She really did like Isabelle but being lectured on her mediocre taste in fashion wasn't exactly making her feel any better, even though she knew Isabelle meant well.

"Well, looks like you're all done. Now we just got to pick you out the perfect outfit." Said Isabelle, smiling proudly at her handiwork. "Here, check it out" she said, passing Clary the mirror.


End file.
